Sorting device for electric-lamp glowers.



PATENTED MAR. 17, 1903.

A. J. WURT S. SORTING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC LAMP GLOWERS.

2 BHEETSEH'EHT 1.

APPLICATION FILED MAX 5, 1902.

F0 MODEL.

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PATENTED MAR. 17, 1903.

A. J. WURTS..

SORTING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC LAMP GLOWERS;

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5, 1902.

a sums-511mm 2.

NO'MODELQ A T ORNEY.

UNITED STATES- AfrENT ()FFICE.

ALEXANDER JAY WURTS, .OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGEWESTINGHOUSE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

SORTING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC-LAMP GLOWE RS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,790, dated March17, 1903.

Application filed May 5, 1902. Serial No. 106.004. (No model.) 7

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER J AY WURTS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in SortingDevices for Electric-Lamp Glowers, of which the following is aspecification. I

My invention relates to the manufacture of electric-lamp glowers whichare conductors of electricity only when heated to a relatively hightemperature; and it has for its object to provide an apparatus forconveniently and expeditiously sorting such glowers after they have beenformed and provided with terminal wires. The treatment to which theglowers are subjected consists in first passing an electric currentthrough them for a sufficient length of time to insure a uniformoperating condition and then measuring their resistance when traversedby a given constant current in order to determine the voltage to whichthey are adapted.

With this end in view I have devised the means shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which 7 Figure. 1 is a plan view of my apparatus, a smallportion being broken away. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of theapparatus shown in Fig. 1, parts of the supportingframework being brokenaway. Fig. 3 is a diagram of the circuits of the apparatus. Fig. 4 is asectional detail view of a portion of the apparatus, and Fig. 5 is afront elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 4.

The supporting-stand 1 may be of any form and dimensions suitable forsteadily support ing the working parts of the apparatus at a convenientheight, and it has a top frame 2, upon and above which is mounted anannular plate 3 of suitable non-conducting material. 1 2 and above theplate 3, by means ofa suitable shaft or stud 4, is a wheel 5, here shownas having the general construction of a wagonwheel, though itsoperativeness in the connection in which it is used is not dependentupon this specific construction. The rim 6 of the wheel is provided witha series of glower holding clips arranged uniformly around theperiphery. One clip,'7, of each set Rotatably supported upon the standor pair is pivotally mounted uponthe rim 6 and is so proportioned as tonormally'assume a vertical position. The other clip, 8, is rigidlyfastened to the rim and projects vertically substantially in the planeof the corresponding clip 7, nearly to the height of the latter, andfrom that point horizontally to a distance somewhat greater than thelength of the glower and then laterally in a horizontal plane to such apoint that the ends of its gripping-jaws 9 will be in substantialalinement both horizontally and vertically with the gripping-jaws 10 ofthe clip 7. With this arrangement of clips it will beseen that-therespective terminal Wires '11 of the glower 12 (see Fig. 4) will beyieldingly held by the clips and there will be a minimum danger ofaccidental disengagement.

Any other form of supporting means which will grasp the terminal wiresand exert a slight degree of tension thereon and from which the glowermay be readily removed may be employed, and the glower may be supportedin either a vertical or an inclined position, if desired. I

The current for treating and sorting the glo wers is supplied to theclips from any suitable source, a transformer 13 being indicated in Fig.3 for this purpose. A lead 14 from one end of the secondary of thetransformer 13 and a lead 15 from a point in the secondary whichcorresponds to the voltage desired are respectively connected to twocollector-rings l6 and 17, which are fastened to the under side of theplate 3. .The contact-rings 16 and 17 are interrupted at the front sideof the apparatus, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, in order to facilitatethe insertion and removal of the glowers. The length of the ring 17 isless than that of the ring 16, and an auxiliary For the purpose ofraising the glowers successively to conducting temperature I have shownaBunsen burner 22, located at the right of the open or dead space, asindicated in Figs. 1 and 3. Any other suitable source of heat forraising the glowers to conducting temperature may obviously be employed,if desired.

In order that the wheel, which, as indicated, will be rotated in acontra-clockwise direction, may be conveniently stopped in thepredetermined positions necessary to properly locate the glowerssuccessively adjacent to' the source of heat 22, I provide the underside of the rim with a series of equally-spaced conducting-pieces 23,having notches or recesses 23, and fasten a spring-arm 24 to the edge ofthe annular plate 3, so that it may successively engage such notches. Ashere shown, the spring-arm 24 also serves as a contactbrush, as will behereinafter described, though separate devices for the two functions maybe employed, if desired.

In treating the glowers it is desirable to employ ballast-resistanceshaving positive temperature coefficients, as is well known in this art,and for this purpose I have shown ordinary incandescent lamps 25, whichare respectively connected in circuit between the brushes 19 and thecorresponding glower-terminals.

For the purpose of sorting the glowers I employ a substantially constantcurrent, which may be obtained as follows: Each glower is connected incircuit with the entire length of the secondary of the transformer 13when it reaches the ring-segment 18, as will be seen by reference toFig. 3, and, on

- account of the high voltage, I include several incandescent lamps 26in series in the circuit. Any other suitable form of resistance may ofcourse be employed to reduce the voltage and provide an approximatelyconstant current for the glower. An ammeter 27 is provided forindicating the current passing through the glower, and for the purposeof measuring the voltage I connect a voltmeter 28 across thesorting-circuit by joining its respective terminals to the ringsegment18 and the brush 24, as indicated. Any other suitable means may beemployed for securing the desired constant current for sorting theglowers, if desired.

For the purpose of protecting the lighted glowers from drafts and alsoshielding the eyes of the user of the apparatus I provide a sheet-metalshield 29, which incloses all of the glowers and glower-holding clipsexcept at the open or dead portion of the apparatus, as is clearlyindicated in Figs. 1 and 2. Individual shields for the several glowersmay of course be employed, if desired.

In the use of the apparatus described the wheel is rotated slowly stepby step, and as each untreated glower is brought into contact with theflame of the device 22 it is retained in that position until it becomesconductive, and the wheel is then moved forward to bring the next glowerinto position over the source of heat, and so on until the entire set ofglowers have become conductive, the clips, brushes, and contact-ringsserving to maintain the current through them until they emergesuccessively into the open space after having made a substantiallycomplete circuit. When each glower reaches the ringsegment 18, it willbe included in the sorting-circuit, and while the brush 24 is in thenotch 23 the indicated voltage will be noted. The open or dead spacecomprises two positions, in the first of which the glower is permittedto cool, and when the second position is reached the glower may beremoved and another put in its place for treatment. It will thus be seenthat the process may be made substantially continuous, if desired. Thewheel may be rotated and its movement controlled by means of suitablemechanism or partially thereby and partially by hand, or the entireoperation may be manually effected. As here illustrated, the wheel isarranged for manual operation.

The apparatus may obviously be arranged so as to rotate in a verticalinstead of a horizontal plane, if desired, and the details ofconstruction may be otherwise modified within considerable limitswithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a rotatable frameprovided with a series of sets of glower-holding clips andacorresponding series of ballast devices, of means for supplying currentto said clips and means for successively heating the glowers toconducting temperature.

2. The combination with a rotatable frame provided with glower-holdingclips, currentcollecting brushes and ballast devices, of stationarycontact-rings with which said brushes make engagement and means forsupplying current thereto.

3. The combination with a wheel having glower-holding terminal clips,ballast devices and collector-brushes, of a stationary frame havingcollector-rings with which said brushes make contact, means forsupplying current to said rings and means for heating the glowers toconducting temperature successively.

4. The combination with a Wheel having a series of glower-holding clipsand a series of collector-brushes, arranged in pairs, and a series ofballast devices, of a stationary frame having collector-rings, means forsupplying an approximately constant voltage to said rings, means forheating the glowers to conducting temperature successively, and meansfor successively subjecting the treated glowers to an approximatelyconstant current.

5. The combination with a wheel having a series of gloWer-holding clipsarranged in pairs and means for supplying a constant voltage to nearlyall of said clips in parallel, of means'for supplying a constant currentto said clips successively.

6. The combination with a wheel having a series of pairs ofglower-holding clips, a series of pairs of collector-brushes and aseries of ballast devices, of a glower-heating means, means forsupplying a constant voltage to nearly all of the collector-brushes inparallel and means for thereafter supplying a constant current to thepairs of brushes successively.

7. The combination with a wheel having a series of glower-holdingdevices and a series of ballast devices, of means for supplying currentto said holding devices and means for stopping the wheel inpredetermined positions.

8. The combination with a Wheel having a series of annnlarly-disposedglower-holding devices and brushes, of a stationary frame havingcollector-rings, means for successively heating the glowers and meansfor supplying current to the collector-rings.

9. The combination with a wheel having glower-holding devices, ballastdevices and brushes, of a frame having collector-rings with which saidbrushes make contact, means for supplying current thereto and means forheating each glower when it reaches a predetermined position.

10. The combination with a wheel having a series of glower-holdingclips, ballast devices and brushes, of a frame having collectorringswith which said brushes make contact, means for supplying a givenvoltage to said rings, an insulated extension for one of said rings andmeans for supplying a constant current to said extension and the otherring.

11. A sorting device for electric-lamp glowers, comprising a wheelhaving an annular series of terminal clips, ballast devices andcontact-brushes, means for supplying a given voltage to said brushesthroughout the greater portion of their path of movement, means forsupplying an approximately constant current to each pair of brushes inone position adjacent to the end of the path of movement and means forindicating the voltage of the circuit in said last-named position of thebrushes.

12. A sorting device for electric-lamp glowers, comprising means forsubjecting an annular set of glowers to an approximately constantvoltage, means for successively subjecting said glowers to anapproximately constant current and means for indicating the voltage ofeach glower when subjected to the constant current.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 18th day ofApril, 1902.

ALEXANDER JAY WURTS.

Witnesses:

H. A. (Room, BIRNEY HINES.

